Biddulph_PV

I think on the football side I’m fairly neutral if I’m honest. Smith is a very good player don’t get me wrong, better suited to L1 than L2 if you ask me. Look at Brisley’s performances and our results when he came in* (I’m ignoring Swindon because I convinced if we became the new Man City and them bottom of the EFL we’d still lose there). And also, you wonder what the financial cost is and whether that money could have been spent on that striker who really would make a difference...? HOWEVER..... the message this sends out is immense, both to players and (spit, spit) agents. Port Vale is no longer the two-bob, do everything on the cheap, tin-pot organisation Bratt and Smurthwaite turned us into. We are becoming a club players WANT to come to rather than being the booby prize. If you want a stable, well-run club who negotiate contracts properly go to Port Vale. If you want to be coached into a better footballer, go to Port Vale. If you want to contribute to and inspire the local community, go to Port Vale. If you want to work towards life after playing, go to Port Vale. But well done Nathan for believing in us and of course the owners. The way this is playing out, I have a hunch that he’ll knuckle down and get us to the top of the League, we’ll have another big FA Cup away day where we cause a major upset, and he then gets his Championship move in January on the back of this netting us a big fat transfer fee in the process!! You heard it here first.....

I think some of the comments on here / FB can only be the work of wind up merchants. In Askey I feel we may at last found a decent manager who can galvanise the club in a way I think only Rudge and Adams have done in my lifetime (Horton never really did it for me I’m afraid). I feel excited about the Rodney signing, this is exactly the sort of player we should be after. A player that has the attributes albeit a bit raw but who Askey will coach to become better. The rewards are, potentially, phenomenal if we get this right as young goal scorers are like gold dust. For once, I feel very excited for what the rest of the transfer window might bring. I can’t say as I’m bothered about losing Smith, who I thought was better in L1 than in L2 for me. I’ll say it now...Vale to finish in the playoffs at least next year and Rodney to hit double figures.

It seems that Wigan’s administration and, consequently, impending relegation is a lot some sinister than it seems. Media reports that it is linked to a large bet in the Philippines based on them getting relegated this year. And it just so happens that their old/new owner is a professional poker player whose company, through which Wigan was being bought, owns a casino in, yep.... you guessed it, the Philippines. This casts grave doubts over the whole integrity of the game especially the growing influence of betting companies (and yes I know our beloved neighbours are owned by one but this is not a dig specifically at them) and must surely ask very serious questions around the EPL’s / EFL’s “fit and proper test” and lack of accountability after yet another club failure.

Might have been a good point if we’d held on last week, feels slightly disappointing.

I sense we’re not going to score today. Hope we don’t concede.

At the time of writing, hit £5,340 from 136 donations, an average of just under £40 each!

If there’s one consistent frustration from some of our fan base it’s the “you’d have taken this at the start of the year / after the last three years” argument. It smacks of lack of ambition and it seriously does my head in! I listened to Sproson shut down Blakeman on Radio Joke when he used the ‘you’d have taken this...’ line and I agree wholeheartedly with him. The Smurf years have gone, consigned to history. We are where we are, to coin a phrase, so live with the here and nows. We’ve been beating top teams home and away, so we should be expected to beat bottom half Scunny at home, and anything less than that will and should be met with disappointment in my opinion.

Just like at every other club.

Don’t think anyone is saying that. But if we’d made a third change near the end, take a bit of sting out the game and allow the players to re-set, it might just have seen us other the line.

Glass half full me:- 1. Not lost in a game with difficult conditions, getting a point against a side that earlier in the season ripped us apart (as with Walsall). 2. Back in the playoffs. 3. At least one of their goals was a very bad mistake that you wouldn’t expect to be repeated. Glass half empty me:- 1. Yet more points dropped from winning position. If we’d have secured just a quarter of those points we’d be in the automatic places. 2. Yet another goalkeeping error. 3. Second successive week where we’ve been good-ish first half, but awful season half. 4. Subs once again too long in coming. Their first equaliser was about 10 mins in the making because nothing was sticking up top and we could barely get out of our half despite having the wind. Plus Manny looked completely lost and clearly isn’t fit, so why not use Taylor? We only made of the three changes anyway, despite a strong bench. 5. Second week in a row Monty had a really poor game. Clark must come in at left-back next week. Really, really frustrating because it is simply about game management which, let’s face it, is non-existent. Did we have a yellow card today? If we win at Cheltenham then today with look like a decent point, but I don’t see it based on how we seem to panic now when we go on front. And yes, I know, at the start of the season.....blah blah

It was coming

Under a lot of pressure here!!

Rode our luck there!

And the 30 goes off injured!!!

These are coming back into this. We look a bit vulnerable to their breaks. The No 30 and 45 are danger men.